The Health of US Primary Care: 2024 Scorecard Report – No One Can See You Now

Primary care is in crisis. In 2023, the inaugural Primary Care Scorecard made clear the systemic lack of support for primary care in the United States, which is harming people’s health and weakening the US health system.² It is no surprise that one year later, in the absence of a coordinated effort among policy leaders, we see news stories on the diminishing availability of primary care physicians and long wait times for primary care visits.³ Headlines such as “Primary Care Saves Lives. Here’s Why It’s Failing Americans”⁴ and “The Shrinking Number of Primary Care Physicians Is Reaching a Tipping Point”⁵ dominate the lay media’s reporting on primary care. Despite the overwhelming evidence that access to primary care improves population health, reduces health disparities, and saves health care dollars, support for primary care continues to dwindle. As a result the average life expectancy in the United States continues to stagnate,⁶ and health disparities in preventive services and other basic primary care services persist, accounting for 60,000 excess deaths each year.⁷